愛してるなんて言わないで

**A special thank you to my Delta, Angela, for writing the poem that you'll see throughout this novel.

Let this be read in whispered halls,

Where shadows linger and embers call.

A tale of fire, of sky, of strife,

Of stolen eggs and secret life.

Skylar

I look at myself in the mirror as my maids put the finishing touches on my hair while adding the royal jewels to my neck, wrists, and ears. Being a princess has its privileges.

It also has its struggles.

My father, King Augustus, is returning home tonight. He’s been away for a week, so the entire kingdom will be celebrating his return. Since I am an only child and my mother died when I was very young, I was in charge of making sure that everything was ready for this evening.

My father was out hunting dragon eggs again. I hope, like the last three times he went out, that he comes home without an egg.

There are six colors of dragons – the rarest are the golden queens. They are the most powerful of all dragons. Their mates are primarily the formidable silver dragons, known for their speed, agility, and power. But there are also bronze dragons, always males, who, in rare instances, are strong enough to mate with a queen. Then there are green dragons who are also male and red and blue dragons, which are always females, and usually mate with green or bronze dragons.

I hate the practice of hunting dragon eggs. Dragon riders are rare, exceptionally rare. However, those who become dragon riders have the power and strength of the dragon in their control. Every king in every kingdom wants that kind of power, and my father is no exception.

Being a royal, I understand the safety that a dragon provides to your kingdom. What kingdom would attack yours if you had a dragon? Since no kingdom currently has a dragon or rider, the answer is none. But that doesn’t mean that I agree with hunting the nesting dragons and stealing their eggs.

The royals also have to be very careful when they steal an egg. You certainly wouldn’t want just anyone bonding with a dragon. It would mean that person would become  the strongest in the land and they could very easily overtake the king, usurping his power and taking over his kingdom. So, in the past, when my father found a dragon egg, it was kept in a very hidden and well-guarded location.

I hear the trumpets outside, just as a maid comes rushing in.

“Princess Skylar, Prince Kenneth has arrived.”

“Excellent. Show him to his room. I’ll greet him shortly.”

Kenneth and I have been betrothed since we were children. It was a calculated move by our parents to solidify the alliance between our kingdoms. It’s very common for royals to have arranged marriages and I’ve always accepted that this was my path in life. Thankfully, Kenneth is a good prince and a good man. If there is anything that I could say I don’t like about him, it’s that he agrees with this horrific practice of stealing dragon eggs.

I dismiss my maids and look at myself in the mirror again.

I have a secret, a big one. Every time my father finds an egg, I do everything in my power to steal it and return it to its mother. I’ve become adept at it. It’s not easy and I can’t always find the mother. But when I’m out in the wild trying to find a nest, the dragons find me. It’s as if they can sense their missing eggs and they come for them.

At first, I was terrified. Dragons are large, powerful creatures and when their young are taken, they become very, very angry. It isn’t just the mother who hunts for her egg. Multiple dragons will search, fighting to get their baby dragon back. More than one kingdom has been scorched by an angry dragon. It’s why we have harpoons on the towers of our castle. If dragons attack, we’re ready.

But again, I don’t agree. Why shouldn’t a mother, father, or maybe a sister or brother, fight to get their baby dragon back? It’s what we, as humans, would do. Why would we expect the dragons to be any different?

This is why I secretly fight against my father, Kenneth, and all the other royals. In the past, I’ve been lucky enough to find a place that had dragons, then left the egg for them to find. I waited, making sure the egg wasn’t attacked by a sneak-snake, an animal that loves eating dragon eggs. Once the dragons find the egg they always take it back to its nest.

I’m just about to go welcome Kenneth when the trumpets announce another arrival.  I hear one of my maid racing to my room.

“Princess! Your father has returned home! He’s back!”

“He’s early!” I say, rushing out of the room. I have no time to see Kenneth. I have to go greet my father.

I race down the stairs. Since my room is in the back of the castle, I have a long way to run. I rush past my father’s people so I can be there to greet him when he arrives.

As I step out of the castle, I slow my pace, not wanting to embarrass my father by looking like I haven’t been trained in how to act like a princess.

Kenneth is already standing outside, standing like the regal prince he is, waiting to greet my father. I walk up to stand beside him.

“Princess, nice of you to join us,” he says, grinning at me.

“My Prince, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to greet you properly. My father is home early. I wasn’t expecting him until later.”

“Have you not heard?” he asks me.

“Heard what?” I ask.

He turns and looks at me with excitement in his eyes.

“I understand your father found a golden egg. A queen egg, Skylar. Do you know how incredible this is?” he asks.

I smile and nod, turning away from him toward where my father and his men are coming in on horseback.

My stomach sinks. Only a queen dragon can produce a queen egg. If this is true, it means that my father has not only found a very rare egg, but it also means that the queen and potentially the entire Thunder of dragons will be raining fury down on our kingdom soon.

As the trumpets continue to blare, welcoming my father home, I watch, seeing the smug look on his face. In front of him, he’s holding something against his body.

The wind blows, just enough for the silken wrap to shift, giving me a look at the glimmering egg in front of him, the glimmering of a golden egg.

My father found a queen.